We Are the Sophisticated Marketer’s Podcast – and This Is Twisted Sister!

If you have any interest in music and marketing you really, really can’t miss this episode

December 19, 2016

Editor's Note: This blog post originally appeared on LinkedIn's EMEA blog.

How can I possibly get across to you the sheer, unadulterated, guerilla marketing mayhem that is the latest episode of the Sophisticated Marketer’s Podcast?

It’s quite possibly the most exciting thing I’ve ever done because it features the greatest guest I’ve ever had on any show. This week’s episode was my chance to sit down with the legendary founder of a band that rewrote the rules on what it takes to succeed in the music business. That person is Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French.

How special is this podcast? Well for starters, it was so packed with Jay Jay’s unique take on creativity, marketing and entrepreneurship that we couldn’t possibly fit it into a single 30-minute episode. That’s why we’ve turned the Twisted Sister edition into a two-part special – our Sophisticated Marketer’s equivalent of the classic double album.

It couldn’t really be any other way – because I’d have been short-changing you the audience, if I’d decided to cut any of this stuff out. Was I supposed to do away with the story of how the Hilfiger brothers helped give Twisted Sister a different view on digital music to the rest of the industry? How the secret to making money from recorded music is to bring out a Christmas album? Why a band manager is like an elephant cleaner? Or why there’s a very high price in life for getting to choose how you dress each day?

In addition to nuggets like that, this first half of our interview features Jay Jay’s take on whether top bands owe their success to music or marketing, and how writing about entrepreneurship has given him more confidence in his creative side. Most intriguing of all, it explains how Twisted Sister didn’t let the lack of a recording deal prevent them building an unstoppable brand in the New York punk scene of the 1970s. They thought creatively, got innovative – and made their name through radio advertising instead.

Don’t just take my word for it. Click on the link below to listen to Part 1 of Jay Jay French on the Sophisticated Marketer’s Podcast – it’s inspiring, funny, thought-provoking and if you’ve got any love for music and marketing, it’s a Christmas treat well worth making time for:

Listen Now

In Part 2 of this double edition, we’ll be looking in-depth on how Jay Jay and the rest of Twisted Sister developed a unique approach to building a global brand – and how any marketer can learn from the strategies they adopted. Look out for it hitting this blog next week!

Want more Sophisticated Marketer’s Podcast in your life? If you’re just discovering us, you can catch up on all the previous episodes here.

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